(Image source: The New York Times) We should probably brace ourselves for an extended Trump shutdown because there's ultimately no reason for the president to end his ongoing temper tantrum. He straight up needs this. Even though his poll numbers are crashing, the longer the ...read more

• By Bob Cesca
  Jan 24, 2019
• Opinion

Maria Butina, the alleged Russian spy who posed as a gun rights activist to court influence among Republicans, will plead guilty today for conspiring to violate Section 951 - the federal statute referred to by the DOJ as "espionage-lite" - during the 2016 election. She has also ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Dec 13, 2018

Last week, the US House Intelligence Committee released approximately 3,517 Facebook ads purchased by the Russians between 2015-17, meant to influence the 2016 election, all of which are available to download. USA Today conducted a study of the ads and concluded that more than ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  May 14, 2018

Yesterday, the Associated Press published former FBI director James Comey’s memos from his meetings with President Trump. The memos reveal things we either know or have assumed about Trump: he’s petty, vindictive, obsessed with loyalty, and has an attention span that makes fleas ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

For some time now, there have been random stories and more than a few rumors about the Republican Party's links to Russian money and, more importantly, Russia's attack on our democratic institutions. We generally know the extent of what the head of the party, President David ...read more

• By Bob Cesca
  Nov 9, 2018

President Trump, who is definitely not compromised by Russia in anyway, has delayed imposing additional sanctions on Russia that Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had stated were on the way last weekend. Via HuffPost/Reuters:  U.S. President Donald Trump has delayed ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Apr 17, 2018

Ok, hear me out on this:  Great Britain was in fact behind the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury last month because the UK government is actively trying to foment war with Russia. Why? Because in her weakened state over the Brexit disaster, Theresa May is ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Apr 3, 2018

Note: Last night on 60 Minutes Stormy Daniels recounted the story of her 2006 one-night-stand with President Trump and the intimidation that followed at the hands of his lawyers. One of the earliest stories to come out of this scandal when it broke was the fact that she claimed ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

President Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May about Russia's poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil last week, and pledged his full support. He reportedly told May that he is with Britain "all the way", but stipulated that he ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Mar 14, 2018

If Donald Trump did not collude with the Russian government to throw the 2016 election in his favor, he would no doubt be extremely alarmed about the definitive intelligence reports stating that the Kremlin is planning on disrupting the midterm elections this year. And yet ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Nov 9, 2018

Jill Stein, Susan Sarandon's candidate, isn't having a good weekend. This Friday, Mueller revealed in his indictments that Russians interfered on behalf of her campaign, posting on the Instagram account Blacktivist, "Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein. Trust me, it's not a ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Dec 20, 2018

With all the news this week over the Nunes Memo and the resignation of Andrew McCabe, it's easy to forget that the Trump Administration isn't America's only enemy. The Russians, who aided and abetted him in stealing our election, have not been duly punished, and show no signs of ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

Note: Bryan Fogel's documentary Icarus, about Russia's abuse of Performance Enhancing Drugs in sports, was nominated today for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Since its release on Netflix last August, Russia has been banned from the upcoming Winter Olympics, and ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

In November 2016, I felt pretty ashamed to be an American, but damn proud to be a Californian. The last year has only made me happier for my home state as we've led the Resistance and served as a role model for the rest of the country in how to eat progressive policies. This has ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

In an eerie echo of Donald Trump, Republican candidate Roy Moore chose violent Russian dictator Vladimir Putin over his own country, calling the United States "evil" and finding common cause with the murderous strongman: In an interview with the Guardian’s Anywhere But ...read more

• By Justin Rosario
  Nov 9, 2018

Today, Newsweek revealed that Russian bot accounts were responsible for pushing stories related to the non-scandal Uranium One deal in the run-up to Robert Mueller releasing his first indictments this week. Hamilton 68, a non-partisan organization tracking Russian bot activity, ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

Over the weekend, Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore received a Twitter bounty many can only dream of - he nearly doubled his number of followers. 20,000 more people than before hit the "follow" button to read the thoughts of a man who lost his first judgeship in 2003 when he ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

California Representative Dana Rohrabacher, who never took a position the Kremlin didn't like, showed his true colors again when he brought Holocaust denier Charles C. Johnson to a meeting with Senator Rand Paul this week.  Rohrabacher, who previously called the Charlottesville ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

Rex Tillerson is destroying the State Department. This is indisputable. He is leaving key positions unfilled. He is refusing to consult with the hundreds of experts at his disposal with decades of experience. He is eliminating entire sections within the State Department, forcing ...read more

• By Justin Rosario
  Oct 5, 2017

The Banter Long Read: Somehow, this story involves yogurt. You might recall a sidebar during last year's election season about Chobani, the Greek yogurt people... To continue reading this MEMBERS ONLY article, please go here. You'll get unrestricted access to all our member's ...read more

• By Bob Cesca
  Nov 9, 2018

With this week's bombshell reports from The Washington Post and The New York Times revealing Felix Sater's efforts in 2015 and 2016 to help Donald Trump build a Trump Tower in Moscow, a simple question needs answering: Where was the media when it came to covering Sater and his ...read more

• By Jeremy Fassler
  Nov 9, 2018

Earlier this year, political activist Alexei Navalny was found guilty by a Russian court of embezzling 16 million rubles worth of timber. The charges were clearly fabricated and the verdict a sham. But, coincidentally, the guilty verdict makes Navalny ineligible to run against ...read more

• By Justin Rosario
  Nov 9, 2018

According to president Trump, during his face to face meeting with Vladimir Putin, he discussed collaboration with the Kremlin on an "impenetrable Cyber Security unit," to prevent "election hacking": If ever there was proof that Trump genuinely lives in a completely alternate ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Nov 9, 2018

It’s finally happening. On Tuesday it was announced that the first bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump will take place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany. Just a partial list of topics that need attention include ...read more

• By Alyona Minkovski
  Jul 5, 2017

If you look at the official White House site, you will see lots of tough talk about how tough American toughness is and how tough we'll be in our tough negotiations and tough deals with weak foreigners that aren't as tough as we are:  America First Foreign PolicyThe Trump ...read more

• By Justin Rosario
  Jun 5, 2017

In an interview with Megyn Kelly for NBC News, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to pull some shit, as the kids say, by suggesting that Russia is being framed for the hacking of 2016 election by American hackers: "Hackers can be anywhere. They can be in Russia, in ...read more

• By Mike Redmond
  Nov 9, 2018

If there’s one thing you can always rely on Senator John McCain for, it’s doing his best to scare the American public. The Arizona Republican’s penchant for supporting aggressive military action against a variety of menacing actors overseas, or at the very least, consistently ...read more

• By Alyona Minkovski
  Nov 9, 2018

Several weeks ago, I made the case that with the election of Donald Trump by way of overt interference by Russia, Putin had miscalculated. Injecting propaganda into the body politic to undermine democracy is dramatically less effective when everyone knows you're doing it. The ...read more

• By Justin Rosario
  May 8, 2017

By now it is painfully clear that the Trump administration and its allies are doing everything they can to make plausible the president's unfounded claim President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. Apparently, that includes pretending to offer new information.   To wit, early ...read more

• By Michael Luciano
  Nov 9, 2018

In this jam packed issue of Banter M: Donald Trump, Enemy Combatant - Russia is fighting and winning a cyber war against America, and Trump is an enemy combatant, explains Bob Cesca. Could this be any more serious? Bill Maher is Not The Enemy - Every year, the usual suspects ...read more

• By The Editors
  Nov 9, 2018

A few weeks ago, retired general David Petraeus was rumored to be on the short list for the job of Secretary of State in the Trump cabinet. But if he offered the same thoughts to our new Tangerine Tyrant that he offered to Congress on Wednesday morning, it's easy to see why he ...read more

• By Wes Williams
  Feb 4, 2018

Let's just dispense with the pleasantries and call Donald Trump what he is: a bourgeoning traitor to the United States of America. There's a very strong possibility he's been compromised by Vladimir Putin, so says a detailed report that our intelligence agencies had enough ...read more

• By Chez Pazienza
  Nov 9, 2018

2016 may have taken Bowie, Prince and Carrie Fisher, among others, but this morning 2017 killed irony. In his highly anticipated, absolutely inevitable tweet-storm in response to last night's release of the details of an intel dossier on Trump that included claims he had paid ...read more

• By Chez Pazienza
  Nov 9, 2018

It is pretty well established that Donald Trump has connections to Russia. And we know with certainty that he also has connections with people like Steve Bannon, who are associated with the white nationalist (aka "alt-right") movement. But on Monday morning Russia and American ...read more

• By Wes Williams
  Nov 9, 2018

On Friday afternoon, President-elect Donald Trump finally sat down with intelligence officials and was briefed about Russia's role in the hacking of our election. Shortly after the meeting, Trump issued a generic statement about how much respect he has for the intelligence ...read more

• By Shannon Argueta
  Nov 9, 2018

While Republicans and Trump supporters are busy denying the obvious, President Obama came out and said what everyone with a functioning brain understands: The Russian hacking of the DNC directly impacted the 2016 presidential election and helped Donald Trump beat Hillary ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Nov 9, 2018

Oh how the times are achangin'. A new poll from YouGov shows a stunning rise in warm, fuzzy feelings for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin among previously hardcore Commie-hatin' real 'Murikans: Just a little context here. Back in 2009, Fox News and AM Hate Radio turned Obama's ...read more

• By Justin Rosario
  Nov 9, 2018

NBC's bombshell report today is big -- very, very big. According to NBC, "U.S. intelligence officials now believe with "a high level of confidence" that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Nov 9, 2018

The escalating crisis over the potential hacking of the US election by the Russian government is being made all the worse by America's fractured media system and its extremely divided political culture.  Despite the competing narratives from both sides of the aisle, right now, ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Nov 9, 2018

Donald Trump can't lose. His entire self-made mythology rests precariously on the premise that he's a winner. He says it over and over again because for Trump it's not simply a statement of purpose but the centerpiece of his brand. A public loss for Trump would be humiliating, ...read more

• By Chez Pazienza
  Nov 9, 2018

A lot of people have been wondering what America would look like under a Trump presidency. As a dictator-in-waiting, Trump would naturally look for validation as America's Great, Glorious, Tremendous, Outstanding Leader from any corner of the globe. And now we know where he ...read more

• By Justin Rosario
  Nov 9, 2018

Over the weekend, Donald Trump's handlers stupidly allowed him to be interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on ABC to talk about his presidential campaign, Vladimir Putin, and foreign policy. Knowing him, it is remarkable that those responsible for getting him elected would put ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Nov 9, 2018

Let's just skip right to the point here: There aren't enough hyperbolic adjectives to truly and properly express just how big a deal it is that Russia is almost certainly behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee and that the goal of that hack was likely to throw the ...read more

• By Chez Pazienza
  Nov 9, 2018

While President Obama is taking a beating in the press these days, it might make him feel alittle bit better to know that he's still doing enough right to earn the contempt of the contemptible. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took to Fox & Friends Tuesday morning to promote ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018

A shocking video recently shot by Russian YouTube prank artists ChebuRussiaTV reveals what it really means to be gay in Russia. Two of the pranksters secretly filmed themselves walking hand-in-hand through Moscow, while their cameraman walked ahead filming them secretly. What ...read more

• By Ben Cohen
  Feb 17, 2016

On Monday afternoon, President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House to break the unsurprising news that the United States has not decided to provide lethal arms to Ukraine. That's a decision I kind of agree ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018

Fox News Channel's long-distance relationship with Vladimir Putin appears to be heating up again. For the longest time, Fox News hosts throughout the broadcast day were crushing badly for Pooty-Poot and his hairless man-rack. But when protests in Ukraine disintegrated into a ...read more

• By Bob Cesca
  Nov 9, 2018

Criticism of President Obama's Ukraine policy, like most Republican criticism of the President, is long on dumb shit and short on better ideas. On this weekend's Real Time with Bill Maher (Special "Book Conservatives Whose Names Sound Like Fraggle Rock Characters" Edition), the ...read more

• By Tommy Christopher
  Nov 9, 2018